Full-Time Fighter: Sean Salmon Discusses UFC 68 Weekend

WOW! What an awesome week. I am not even sure where to begin this blog. I suppose I will start at the low point and address it to everyone that showed up for my party Friday night. First, thank you all for coming, and I sincerely hope that you had a good time. However, I have received some complaints and agree with every one of them. Things did not run as smoothly as planned. Unfortunately, all I have to offer is my honest apology.

The mistakes of the night aside (and I feel bad saying this because of the people that did not have a good time), but I have to be honest: I had a great time! Like I have said before, Rashad Evans and I had never spoken before Friday night, so it was nice to meet him and talk for a bit. He is truly a great guy (which I expected). It actually looks like we are going to be doing some training together since he still lives in East Lansing, Mich. most of the time. I think we have a lot to offer each other.

I also had some time to speak with my next opponent, Eric “Red” Schafer. As I have also said before, Eric and I have been emailing each other for awhile now. We have been trying to find time to work together, as I still have family in his hometown of Milwaukee. Obviously, that will have to wait until after May 26.

I also want to thank Keith Jardine, Nate Marquardt, Bruce Buffer, Shonie Carter, Herb Dean and Eddie Sanchez (I am sorry if I missed anyone). All of these guys went out of their way to take pictures and sign autographs with anyone who wanted them. They make it very easy to become fans. In fact, my wife had her picture taken with Red, and my sisters-in-law had theirs taken with Rashad. I guess the point I am trying to make is: what a great sport!

Moving onto the show. This was my very first time cornering anyone — and it was in the UFC. I was very surprised at how nervous I was; it was to the point that I thought I might pass out. If I got that nervous for my own fights, I would not be doing this sport. I believe that I got more nervous cornering because I have no control over the outcome. When I go into my own fights, I always know I am going to win (not always the case), which helps control nervousness. Also, in this situation, Rex has been a very good friend of mine since I was 18. I know the effort he put into that fight and I wanted him to win very badly. Unfortunately that night, Rex had a very subpar performance and did not show the type of fighter that he truly is. I believe with Rex (like myself), time will prove me right.

Rex taking that loss was not even the worst part of the fight for me, though. The worst part was walking from the cage back to the dressing room and having people cursing at him and telling him that he sucks. Rex and everyone in our camp stayed very calm and kept moving, but I felt the urge to try to defend him. Any man who not only steps into a cage to fight for his own enjoyment, but does it in front of thousands of others for their entertainment, should not be treated that way. I spent a lot of time thinking about that and came to the conclusion that it’s just part of our sport. The fans’ enthusiasm is what drives the UFC even if I feel it is misdirected at times. So all I can do is accept it and use it as a motivating factor.

For Rex’s fans out there: he did suffer a broken hand during the fight and will be getting it fixed. His spirits are good, and he seems very motivated to come back and show his true ability. The first-time UFC jitters are a very real thing.

After his fight, he was taken to the hospital and myself and his two other cornermen, Marc Cofer and BJ Hedger, kind of went over the fight and our own performances as corners. I think it is always best to immediately look where improvements can be made. After that, we headed up to a suite that a friend of Marc’s had and enjoyed the rest of the show.

I will give my quick rundown. I was most excited for the Jason Lambert vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral fight — and that has nothing to do with them being at my weight class (I am strongly considering middleweight). I just thought that this was the most interesting matchup. I actually had Babalu picked as the winner (not by much) — until the night before weighins and I saw Lambert working out. That is when I got really fired up for that fight. I expected a very close battle based on their styles. I didn’t think either one of them would be able to finish the other. Lambert proved that he is a bad man. What an awesome performance.

I had Matt Hughes picked over Chris Lytle, but Lytle really showed me (and I think everyone else) a lot. Lytle seemed to have Hughes scouted really well and did his best to keep the fight in situations he could win. I am anxious to see his next fight.

I could never pick against Rich Franklin, as I have done some training with him and see how much he puts into this sport. Jason MacDonald has proven to be one the top guys in the world at middleweight, though, and was training with Greg Jackson’s camp, which has quickly become one to the best camps in the world (in my opinion). It was a great performance by Rich.

I also could never bet against Randy Couture, but I did have trouble believing he could pull this one out. I don’t care about his age; he has more than proven it does not matter. I was more concerned about the reach and the fact that Tim Sylvia has shown the abilility to be tough on the ground. Simply put, Randy is awesome. You can’t say enough about him as an athlete and a person. The new champ.

Overall, it was a crazy weekend, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything — the good and the bad. I wish that my fight was next weekend.

I hope that everyone had a great time. I gotta find out about this UFC in Cincinnati thing and see if I can get on that card!

Good morning from Ohio,

Sean Salmon

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Sean Salmon (9-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) is a UFC fighter who will next fight Eric “Red” Schafer at UFC 71. The Columbus, Ohio-based fighter is sponsored by MMAjunkie.com and trains full-time in MMA. He pens his “Full-Time Fighter” column for MMAjunkie.com at least once per week. You can read his past columns in the archives.

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